San Francisco, CA (VtR)
Main_Page > Vampire: The Requiem > Cities > San Francisco, CA Summary Matilda Ogesbly, rules the city as an Invictus prince. However due to an assassination attempt, few have ever actually met her. Instead most of the affairs of Elysium are conducted through a ghoul, Charles Disanto. Lieutenant Edward Gilbert, holds the true power in the city. He has managed to secure both military bases in the name of the Sanctified. While he does control the military bases, it's more to suit his fantasies of being a general than actually exerting power. However, if a prince manages to convice Gilbert that they are no longer fit to rule, Gilbert will not hesitate to remove them from power and leave a vacancey. Currently a kindred named Jasmine leads the Sanctified in name. During a previous confrontation with the former Ordo Dracul prince, she was instilled in her position to be both a peace keeper and pawn of the prince. As of yet no one within the sanctified has challeneged her seat. But that comes more out of fear of Gilbert's reaction than out of respect for her position and political clout. Recently a bosterious kindred by the name of Walter Wicksburm began to coaless Carthinian power within the city. Though wit, charm, and a lot of luck he was able to expand the covenant's power base. Within the last few years the Carthinians have swelled to critical mass, and have now successfully demaned a seat on the Primogen council. By order of the prince, all members of Ordo Dracul are forbidden in the city. Any dragons captured within city limits will not live to see the next night. The Circle of Crone is small enough that it has managed to stay underneath the radar. Author: Lost Shadow History * 1783 – Father Junipero Guerra joins the Mission San Francisco de Asis ** Ghouls founder Father Francisco Palou and develops a herd from the other priests * 1815 – Legate expeditionary discovers Father Guerra and begins spreading tales of the Father among other sanctified * 1848 – The Gold rush causes a population boom, and also attracts a number of other kindred to the city * 1851 & 1856 – The population and kindred boost, increases crime rate in the city and the Committee of Vigilance is formed. In addition to reducing the crime rate, the Committee has an unnerving ability to track down and quietly dispose of kindred. Both times the Committee was led by a man of German ancestry: John Morley Astor * 1856 – After the second purge, only two kindred remain in the city: Father Guerra and Matilda Ogesbly * 1850 – 1875 Matilda having lost her sire during the second purge, relies heavily on Father Guerra for her day to day survival * 1862 – Lieutenant Edward Gilbert returns to the city and infiltrates the local garrison, and begins quietly operating in the city * 1878 – Religious differences finally come between Father Guerra and Maltilda. * 1880 – Edward’s increasing power base comes into conflict with Guerra’s and Maltilda’s territories. * 1900 – A kindred from china brings along the bubonic plague throwing the city into an uproar. City officials think it has been exterminated by 1905, but isolated incidents continue up to this day * 1903 – Fear of the new arrivals causes Guerra and Matilda to put aside the religious differences and begin working on a working kindred government for the city. Due to prevailing sexist ideas, Matilda advises and influences the city from the shadows * 1906 – In wake of the earthquake, a newly arrived William L. McKnight attempts to take out Guerra and Matilda in a power play. His plan partially succeeds and Guerra is driven into torpor, unbeknownst to McKnight, Matilda escapes into a downtrodden section of the city * 1916 – During the Preparedness Day parade, Lieutenant Gilbert’s men successfully detonate a bomb in McKnight’s haven. No one knows what killed him, but the only possible escape from the fire was into the sunlight. * 1916 – Instead of taking power, Gilbert lets Edward Monroe take power. * 1936 – Monroe makes a gamble and uses his influence to support freeway construction including the Golden gate bridge. * 1945 – Matilda begins getting her paws into San Francisco’s shipping industry. She manages to bind two other kindred through the vinculum: Lee Chi Yet and Alfred Hemstreet * 1959 – Matilda makes a major strike on Monroe’s power base by getting the Freeway revolt passed * 1966 – With the formation of the Church of Satan by a kindred neonate, Matilda decides she’s had enough with the lax administration and makes a direct power play against Monroe. Edward realizing that Matilda survived McKnight’s assassination attempt, sides with her against Monroe. While not destroyed, Monroe is forced out of the city. * 1970 – Matilda reasserts the Sanctified hold over the city and kills off or drives out of town the “morally corrupt” individuals. Due to her nature, most never meet Matilda in person except through her ghoul: Charles Disanto. * 1973 – McKnight’s childe Walter Wolf organizes a Carthinian movement in San Francisco. His attempt to harass Matilda fails spectacularly, but he develops enough support to stay in the city * 1988 – A new player in town, Catherine Burdick makes her presence known buy successfully influencing the Mayor into forming “Camp Agnos” * 1997 – An unknown assassin attempts to take out Matilda, instead he kills off Lee. * Now – Father Guerra reawakens from torpor, and begins reestablishing his foothold on the Mission. His former ghoul has survived in Edward’s care. Kindred of Note Father Junipero Guerra After nearly a century in torpor, Father Guerra has reawakened to the new millennium. Upon reawakening, Father Guerra could barely control the shock brought on by the changes in San Francisco. The shock and starvation quickly sent Guerra into a frenzy. During this frenzy, two of the cities newly unaligned stumbled upon him. Due to their lack of knowledge, they deemed Guerra to be a new fledgling. Recovering from his initial shock, Guerra has decided to play the part of a neonate and try and learn as much as possible about what’s happened to the city. *Hooks: The bodies were found by the police, 2 witnesses of Guerra’s frenzy, rumors among the unaligned of another new face in town Clan: Daeva Matilda Ogesbly Currently Matilda holds the princedom in name. No one has actually seen her since an assassination attempt on midnight at the turn of the millennium. Matilda did survive the assassination attempt. But that’s only if you want to consider her current state of affairs surviving. The attempt on her unlife was in actuality a cover for a magical/spiritual attack on her mind. This has left Matilda a cross between a lifeless corpse and a mumbling lunatic. For good measure, Charles Disanto - her favored Ghoul - has been keeping her in hiding until he can find someone to undue the effects of the attack. *Hooks: Charles wanting help/documents/etc, Gilbert knows, rumors that the prince was actually killed off Clan: Mehket Lieutenant Edward Gilbert A major but quiet player in city politics. To tell the truth he hates politics. He likes things cut dry and simple; black and white. A military man through and through, Gilbert believes it is his duty to serve the rightful holder of power. Unlike many, Gilbert has adhered to a strict regiment that the kine shall be protected. Thus if any prince begins taking moves Gilbert finds morally unacceptable, he will likewise move against that prince. Currently Gilbert supports Matilda even in her current state, though he recognizes that he can do little to help her without causing a multitude of coup attempts. Due to the power he wields and his lack of ambition, Gilbert currently serves as the cities Sheriff. Likewise, when a kindred envisions Sanctified power in the city, Gilbert comes to mind. Currently Gilbert’s primary haven is the Presidio Military base, which is off-limits to kindred without prior permission. *Hooks: Jobs against unethical kindred, information gathering Clan: Mehket Charles Disanto Current prince in actuality. Quiet, polite, thoughtful, respectful, backstabbing SoB. Charles will relate to someone only as long as they are useful, once that time is up, they better have racked up a large boon bill, or Charles cuts them dry. Most in the city blame his personality on Matilda’s paranoid paradigm. But to tell the truth almost all of it comes from Charles. He never presents his back if at all possible, and when he’s forced to he always has backup. Many have also mistaken Charles ghouldom as a sign of weakness and have even attempted to take his life. To their surprise Charles can take on many of the ancilla with no help and relative ease. Charles was actually one of Guerra’s original ghouls who was given to Matilda as a peace offering in 1903. *Hooks: Anything a normal prince would ask for. Walter Wicksburm Many of the older vampires remember when this neonate stood upon his soapbox in the middle Elysium and began preaching about the need for Democracy among the kindred. A young, brash, arrogant, prick doesn’t due Walter’s ego justice. Most any vampire, who’s been in the city for a period of time, will have been assaulted by this young man’s ravings. At the same time, it’s hard to take Walter seriously. When he first came to Elysium, he brought a soapbox. And whenever one speaks to him, Walter always has a charm about. At the same time, Walter always seems to know when he’s overstayed his welcome, right before everyone else. At the end of first appearance at Elysium he just turned and left. Not 30 seconds later one of Matilda’s messengers came in with orders to subdue the Carthinian. His boldness and straightforwardness have won a number of converts. In less than a year, enough kindred joined the Carthinian ranks for Water to press Matilda for a representative in her cabinet. Clan:Daeva Edward Monroe Prince in exile. Monroe came to the city to finish the mapping of Ley Lines for the Ordo Dracul. But upon reaching the city, he found a previously unknown nexus and began studying it. Simultaneously, Monroe began working his way up in city politics. In the beginning he presented himself as a humble modest man. This allowed him to gain Gilbert’s favor. Thus when Gilbert removed McKnight from the scene, Monroe stepped in as the man in charge. Over the years, Monroe’s true colors began to show through. Instead of concern for the city, Monroe only cared for his research. As his care for the city dwindled, so did Gilbert’s support. In 1966, a neonate forming the Church of Satan was the last draw for Matilda and Gilbert. Working together, the two removed Monroe from power and purged the city of Dracul members. Monroe didn’t flee far from the city, just across the bay to Oakland. Unbeknownst to non-Dracul memebers, Monroe had set up deals with other entities to share the nexus without conflict. Currently these entities are worried about the change in power. Thus they have helped Monroe plot to regain power. At the same time, factions of these entiteis desire to remove the vampires from the picture entirely. Edward is also using his new neonate to stir up city politics. In particular, he hopes to bring to light Matilda’s current state of being. Clan: Gangrel Alfred Hemstreet Alfred broke into the shipping industry with the rampup to World War Two. He managed to carve out a miniture empire before drawing attention from on high. When Matilda, turned his eyes on him, he’s lack of experince left him wide open for her advances. In less than a year, Matilda had managed to fully bind Alfred with the Viniculum. From that point forward, Alfred would use his business sense to help Matilda with her power gains. His experties allowed the passing of the Freeway revolt and other developments in Matilda’s powerbase. At the same time his lack of experinece caused a few mishaps along the way. In particular, his laxness with his ghouls allowed a few of them to turn into hunters. One of his former ghouls turned hunter, has risen through the ranks in the police deparnment. As a result, the kindred have lost all influence over the downtown police. Out in the suburbs sometimes a vampire can exert some control over the police department, but that often causes problems down the line. Recently with Matilda’s disapperance, Alfred has begun to feel the weeking of the blood bond. The inklings of anger at his servitude have begun to reach the surface, and he is starting to act out against Matilda’s empire. Evenwith his prior relationship with Matilda, Charles has not let him see his regent. As a result he has become suspicious and is looking into what has actually happened to Matilda. *Hooks: Wanting help with information, Wanting to usurp Charles’ orders, Wanting to take the princeship for his own Clan: Nosferatu Update: Suffered Final Death at the end of the first chronicle. Jasmine Sanctified Leader She arrived soon after the turn of the century and began helping Father Guerra at the Mission. Within the year though, Guerra was killed and Monroe came to power. With Monroe’s dislike of the sanctified, none of those above her wanted to take the leadership position. So the job fell to Jasmine. Almost immediately, Monroe moved to take her unlife. Though a lot of fast talking and appeasement, Jasmine was able to continue leading the Sanctified as one of Monroe’s puppets. By allowing herself to become blood bound for the sake of the Sanctified in the city, Jasmine gained the respect of the other members. Due to her arrangement with Monroe, Jasmine couldn’t work to gain any political power in the city. So she turned her efforts to the cities spiritual side. While trying to enlighten the fellow residents of the city, Jasmine found that converting them to the beliefs of the Scantified fell to close to the line Monroe drew in the sand. Instead Jasmine settled for seeing that the kindred were on an acceptable path towards enlightenment. With Matilda’s rise in power, Jasmine found that she now had the freedom to act politically, but Monroe’s conditioning and the Viniculum made it hard for her to change the direction that of the Scantified. Eventhough the Scantified are “officially” tolerant of other religions, it hasn’t kept some of the older members from using the more traditional methods of conversion. Clan: Mehket Joseph Brown Joseph came to the city in the reverly that was the 80s. With him he brought the teachings of the Circle of Crone. Clan: Nosferatu Unknowns John Morely Astor He hasn’t gone by his original name in quite awhile. Led both Committees of Vigilance back in the 1850s. Vampire Hunter Category:Cities (nWOD)